Rhea Ripley Names Wrestlers She Looked Up To Growing up

Speaking in a new interview, Rhea Ripley has named the four wrestlers that she looked up to when she was growing up.

In conversation with Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy for Issue 12 of Inside The Ropes Magazine, Ripley initially opened up about her dream match. The former RAW Women’s Champion described how her attention was drawn to Beth Phoenix as someone who also had a distinctive look.

While Phoenix now sits describing the action at the NXT announce desk, through the 2000’s and into the 2010’s she sat atop the WWE women’s division winning four Women’s Championships.

“Beth Phoenix. She’s so bad-ass and so different. Growing up watching wrestling, I knew that my body type didn’t fit the same mold as everyone else’s and she was sort of in the same boat as me, so it was great having someone like her to look up to as well.”

Continuing on, Ripley named three other wrestlers that she held in high esteem, each one vastly different from the aforementioned Phoenix.

“Apart from the guys in Australia, I always looked up to Triple H, CM Punk and The Miz. I thought Triple H was a badass and he was so good at what he did, whereas The Miz and CM Punk, they’re just SO good on the mic. I really loved listening to them talk – I was always captivated, and I always listened to their whole promo until the very end. I really looked up to them, I wanted to be able to do that one day.”

In recent weeks, Ripley has formed an unlikely alliance with another former champion, Nikki A.S.H. On the most recent episode of RAW, the Aussie star defeated Natalya.